The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, which seeks to “recognise individuals and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to the creation of vibrant, liveable and sustainable urban communities around the world”, is a biennial award now open for nominations till 18 September 2009. Organised by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and Centre for Liveable Cities, the eventual winner will by picked by a panel of judges chaired by Chairman of Temasek Holdings, Mr S Dhanabalan and includes overseas urban planners such as Dr Pierre Laconte of the International Society of City & Regional Planners and Mr Achim Steiner of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Nominations will be judged on a criteria that includes good planning principles, resource-efficiency, environmentally friendliness, economic benefits and whether it helps builds a cohesive community. And as with all things Singapore, the prize stresses solutions that are “practical, cost-effective and easy to replicate” said Prof S. Jayakumar when he launched it yesterday.

Taking a closer look at the eligibility for nomination of the prize, one wonders if there is a public relations exercise element to the prize. In order to be nominated, it is explicitly stated that one has to be an elite in the field or deemed “fit” by the nominating committee itself — no criteria for what that entails.